Conceived in two parts, this double-gallery exhibition explores the origins of Tarot in Renaissance Italy and its ongoing relevance as a source of inspiration for artists in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The first part of the exhibition, Renaissance Symbols, focuses on the origins of the three earliest surviving decks from the fifteenth century, which were commissioned by the Dukes of Milan. It examines the rich court culture from which the cards emerged, the development of the cards’ imagery, and how that imagery became the basis for later divination practices.
Modern Visions, the second part of the exhibition, takes as its starting point the legendary 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck conceived by mystic Arthur Edward Waite and illustrated by artist Pamela Colman Smith, tracing the influence of this deck and others on later practitioners and the imagery’s adoption by people like André Breton, Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Jess, Niki de Saint Phalle, Betye Saar, and Kerstin Brätsch. For these artists, Tarot offered an alternative to the strictures of modernist aesthetics, allowing them to explore other universes and imaginative possibilities.
Renaissance Symbols is organized by Joshua O’Driscoll, Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, and Frank Trujillo, Drue Heinz Book Conservator. Modern Visions is organized by Claire Gilman, Acquavella Curator and Department Head of Modern and Contemporary Drawings, with Esther Levy, Curatorial Assistant, Modern and Contemporary Drawings.
Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions is made possible by the Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg Charitable Foundation, an anonymous donor, in memory of Melvin R. Seiden, Beatrice Stern, the Vasari Fund for Exhibitions, the William Randolph Hearst Fund for Scholarly Research and Exhibitions, and an anonymous donor. Generous support is provided by Alyce Williams Toonk, the Lucy Ricciardi Family Exhibition Fund, and Susanna and Livio Borghese, in memory of Agnes Gund, with additional support from Marguerite Steed Hoffman, Dr. Wendy A. Stein and Mr. Bart Friedman, and Rachel and Alex Stern.
Strength/Fortitude, Visconti di Modrone Tarocchi. Italy, 1441–42. Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Yale University
